Council Denies Salvation Army Request

Published: September 21, 1999 12:00AM

In a vote that some members said was swayed by comments made by residents during the last month, City Council denied the Wooster Corps of the Salvation Army's request to rezone property at 137 Ohio St. to commercial from residential.

Council voted 6-0 to deny the request, with Anne O'Planick, R-Ward 3, abstaining because her husband sits on the Salvation Army's board of trustees.

The change would have allowed the Corps to build a parking lot that would have served the Family Life Center, which the Salvation Army plans to build in the near future.

The Salvation Army anticipated the denial, and prepared a statement before the meeting detailing their plans to move ahead.

"Our vision for this worthy project has not been shaken or destroyed and we will overcome this obstacle to our overall plan," said the release, which was written by Maj. Mary West, the corps' commanding officer, and Glenn Davis, chairman of the Corps' advisory board.

"...[W]e will be successful because of our collective resolve to the entire community."

The Salvation Army already has raised about $1.2 million through a general campaign for the Family Life Center project.

Nearly all council members pledged their support to the corps in its future plans, but said they could not approve the request because what it came down to was zoning, pure and simple.

"The essence and merit are about zoning as far as this issue is concerned," said the ordinance's sponsor, Tom Vura, R-at large.

Vura came up with two similar examples from the last seven years, in which someone requested a residential lot be re-zoned to commercial. Both requests, one made in 1992, the other in 1994, were rejected by council.

Vura also urged the residents who were against the request to get involved with the city's comprehensive planning project, which is going on now.

"The way (this neighborhood) is zoned (R-4, high density), there still could be sweeping changes that you don't like," he said.

James Hodges, D-Ward 1, said he hoped the two sides could put aside their differences and work together on a solution.

The Salvation Army, in the release, expressed disappointment in council's decision. "It is our strong conviction that the rezoning of this lot is the best option for providing additional parking in support of the family life center," the release said. "It is truly unfortunate for the kids at risk and the families in need that Council has decided to listen to the minority voices of south Wooster."

Opponents of the proposal were made up mostly of residents of Ohio and South Walnut streets. Their concerns ranged from increased traffic to decreasing property values.

All council members offered help in putting together alternative solutions to the parking problem.

With the addition of the center, the Salvation Army would need to have 84 parking spaces, according to city planning.

Even if the request had been approved, the Corps would have had to go before the Board of Zoning Appeals to get a variance for the 25-foot buffer zone between a commercial district and one that is residential, because the Corps' plan showed only eight feet. They also would have had to get another variance for fewer parking spaces, because even with that plan, there would not be the required 84 spaces.